News Physics

X-rays from nuclear blasts could defend Earth from asteroids

The blast would create plumes that could push the space rock off course

An asteroid floats in space in the foreground, with the Earth in the background.

The X-rays emitted by a nuclear blast could deflect asteroids as they approach Earth, a new study suggests.

Science Photo Library - ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

By Nikk Ogasa

An asteroid hurtling toward Earth could be deflected without a spacecraft ever touching it.

The trick is using X-rays to divert the space rock, researchers report September 23 in Nature Physics. In lab experiments, scientists heated the surfaces of free-falling faux asteroids with X-ray radiation, producing vapor plumes that pushed the objects away.